CHURCHILL MANAGEMENT Corp Buys 11,206 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

CHURCHILL MANAGEMENT Corp increased its position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ - Free Report) by 8.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 150,759 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock after buying an additional 11,206 shares during the quarter. CHURCHILL MANAGEMENT Corp's holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $6,029,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Cliftonlarsonallen Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in Verizon Communications by 5.1% in the 4th quarter. Cliftonlarsonallen Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 13,127 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $525,000 after acquiring an additional 635 shares during the period. Burney Co. grew its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 30.4% in the fourth quarter. Burney Co. now owns 186,621 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $7,463,000 after purchasing an additional 43,472 shares during the last quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Verizon Communications by 2.8% in the fourth quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 43,530 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $1,741,000 after purchasing an additional 1,174 shares during the period. Park Avenue Securities LLC raised its position in Verizon Communications by 16.4% during the 4th quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 221,712 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $8,866,000 after purchasing an additional 31,269 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kathmere Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 3.7% during the 4th quarter. Kathmere Capital Management LLC now owns 67,186 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $2,687,000 after buying an additional 2,390 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 62.06% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on VZ. Scotiabank raised their price objective on Verizon Communications from $46.50 to $47.25 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Verizon Communications from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, December 16th. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. TD Cowen upgraded shares of Verizon Communications to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein initiated coverage on shares of Verizon Communications in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. They issued a "market perform" rating and a $48.00 target price on the stock. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $46.54.

Verizon Communications Stock Up 0.4 %

Verizon Communications stock traded up $0.14 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $38.32. The stock had a trading volume of 24,643,499 shares, compared to its average volume of 23,450,615. The firm has a market capitalization of $161.32 billion, a PE ratio of 16.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.17 and a beta of 0.46. Verizon Communications Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $37.58 and a fifty-two week high of $45.36. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $41.11 and its 200-day simple moving average is $41.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a current ratio of 0.66.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.18 by $0.01. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 7.30% and a return on equity of 20.05%. The business had revenue of $33.30 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $33.42 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.22 EPS. Verizon Communications's revenue was up .9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, January 10th will be issued a $0.6775 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 10th. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.07%. Verizon Communications's dividend payout ratio is presently 116.81%.

Verizon Communications Company Profile

Verizon Communications Inc, through its subsidiaries, engages in the provision of communications, technology, information, and entertainment products and services to consumers, businesses, and governmental entities worldwide. It operates in two segments, Verizon Consumer Group (Consumer) and Verizon Business Group (Business).